Pics: Abhijith N Kolpe

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru, Feb 16: The inauguration of restored paintings of St Aloysius Chapel and renovated college museum ‘Aloyseum’ was held at St Aloysius College on Saturday, February 16.

Principal director, INTACH Conservation Institutes (ICI), Art & Material Heritage Division (New Delhi) Nilabh Sinha unveiled the commemorative plaque and Silvana Rizzi from Milan in Italy, the great grandniece of the painter Antonio Moscheni inaugurated the renovated ‘Aloyseum.’

Bishop of Shivamogga Dr Francis Serrao SJ blessed the chapel and museum.

Nilabh Sinha and Silvana Rizzi were felicitated on the occasion. 

Fr Christopher Vaz, Micheal Cuntinha, Ray Saldanha, James David, John Chandran, Fr Prashanth Madtha, Gilbert Sequeira, Gopal Gowda, Kavitha were honoured for relentlessly working for restoration and renovation of the college museum.

Addressing the gathering, bishop of Shivamogga Dr Francis Serrao SJ said," Brother Antonio Moscheni's paintings are an enormous contribution to this chapel. The portrayal of Jesus and his saints by Moscheni is not only famed in this church but around the world. A visit to this chapel is deeply soul satisfying and attracts lot of tourists.”

“I am honoured to be part of this inaugural ceremony. When I look at the paintings, I feel so thrilled. We had done documentation work to understand the art. This is an restoration of art through science and we are fortunate enough to be part of this restoration work. The paintings will be preserved for the next 50 to 60 years, but we need to visit and inspect once in a 20 years,” said Nilabh Sinha.

Rector of St Aloysius College Fr Dionysius Vaz welcomed the gathering. Reema Fernandes compered the programme.

About Aloyseum

The Aloyseum was started in 1913 by the Italian Jesuit Fr Chiapi with minerals, herbarium and a collection of Roman coins, a gift of the Collegio Vieta Italy. It has now been shifted from ‘Red Building’ to its present location close to the Chapel which gives easy access to visitors especially those coming to see the chapel paintings.

The new space has been designed by William James who is an interior designer and the display of the exhibits has been planned and executed by Kavitha who has a Masters in Archaeology and a Diploma in Museology.

About St Aloysius Chapel

The chapel of St Aloysius College of Mangaluru was transformed into an admirable work of art by the Italian Jesuit Brother Antonio Moscheni SJ. He was a proficient painter trained in the famed Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, Italy. Within just two and a half years he completed the work of painting the whole Chapel, covering a total of 829 sq. meters, with exquisite frescoes and canvasses.

All these paintings were badly damaged by rain water seeping through the walls, dust and fungal growth. The paintings were restored by specialists from INTACH-ICI, Lucknow from 1991 to 1994 under the supervision of Dr Agarwal, the then Director of the INTACH-ICI, Lucknow. Dr Agarwal had suggested that the paintings need to be examined every 20 years. Hence at request by the College, Nilabh Sinha, principal director, INTACH Conservation Institutes (ICI), Art & Material Heritage Division, New Delhi, visited the Chapel. He gave a status report of the paintings and made suggestions for their conservation.

The general condition of the paintings he said is fair in the sense that despite their age, about 140 years, the process of deterioration is slow owing to previous conservation. However, signs of deterioration have started to show in almost all the cases; the paint layer is losing adhesion, cracks in the paint layer are present, many paintings show loses in paint layer, tears, bulging, opening of seam, etc.

Hence it was decided to take up restoration work, which took 18 months and the estimated cost was around Rs 1.5 crore.